A clown, a baby and a self-described conservative were among those who sat in front of a crowd of voters last week who were eager to hear from the eight candidates vying for four Boston city councilor-at-large positions.

Pat Payaso, who came in to the WalkUp Roslindale-sponsored political forum looking like a sad Ronald McDonald and carrying balloons, said, “I’m running a very serious campaign.”

Sitting further down the table at the Roslindale Community Center, incumbent Michelle Wu held her younger son, Cass, as she answered questions about housing, transportation and the possible arrival of Amazon in the city.

On the opposite end of the table sat perennial candidate Althea Garrison, who said she was the only conservative running for the at-large position.

Rounding out the speakers were incumbents Michael Flaherty, Ayanna Pressley and Annissa Essaibi George, as well as challengers William King and Domingos DaRosa.

Housing and transportation

“Housing is a human right,” said Pressley, when the panel was asked about how they would help Boston residents afford homes in the city.

While Garrison favored rent control and DaRosa, who said he’s a renter, emphasized the importance of having a housing mix, Essaibi George said it was essential that more “family-friendly” homes be created, not just studios, so that the city can retain residents with children.

All candidates seemed to agree that problems with housing access could not be separated from problems with transportation access.

“We need to extend the Orange Line all the way down to Cleary Square; it’s as simple as that,” said DaRosa.

Garrison said, “I think we need to put pressure on the MBTA” to add more buses and better monitor bus drivers.

All candidates said they’d advocate for more buses and also agreed that a dedicated bus lane is needed as well.

Payaso spoke about how transportation in other countries is superior to what Boston has. “We need high-speed trains” in addition to Amtrak's Acela trains that run between Boston and New York City, he said.

Essaibi George said that if the city got more buses, there should be more routes between neighborhoods, not just to downtown.

Wu, a Roslindale resident, said each morning she grapples with the issue of public transportation. One of the more difficult decisions she said she has to make is whether to take the commuter rail or not, considering the high cost. She said commuter rail prices need to be lowered to attract more riders.

Parking perils

The high demand for parking spaces is always a contentious issue, and several of the candidates came up with suggestions for helping to alleviate the burden.

Garrison and King advocated installing meters in some areas of the city, while not allowing parking in others.

Several candidates brought up the fact that if new apartment buildings don’t include an appropriate number of parking spaces for each unit, that would just encourage those residents to park on city streets for free.

“These new developments need to be built with parking,” said DaRosa.

A possible solution to lessening the congestion on city streets is to make residents pay for parking permits.

“Our streets are public spaces,” said Wu, who added the city needs to manage supply and demand.

American Legion corridor

The American Legion Highway corridor is not known as one of the more attractive sections of Roslindale, but several residents are trying to improve the area.

Pressley said it is important to make neighborhoods destinations, not just pass-throughs. To accomplish this Garrison said speeds should be reduced and more bike and pedestrian paths created.

King, who lives on American Legion Highway, said he sees how unsafe it is every day. He and DaRosa said the medians should be made more narrow while increasing the number lights and crosswalks to make the road safer.

Impact of Amazon

Flaherty said if Amazon relocated to Boston, it could be a “game changer for our city.” However, he wondered if lifelong residents would actually benefit from the company’s move, or would out-of-town workers?

All the candidates also voiced concern about how the enormous company would impact small businesses in the city.

Wu said Amazon’s business model doesn’t really support local businesses.

King asked, “What type of message are we sending to our small businesses” when we bend over backward to help the large companies like Amazon, but small shops still must wade through red tape. He also wondered who would be hired for the supposed 50,000 jobs?

Garrison and Payaso were against the company getting any benefits or corporate “giveaways” from the city, as GE did.

Boston’s general municipal election takes place Nov. 7. For more information, visit https://www.boston.gov/departments/election

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